The Verge

Photo: Getty Images Ryan Selkis, the cofounder and CEO of the crypto research platform Messari, is stepping down from his position in the aftermath of a social media tirade following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.Selkis, an outspoken Trump supporter who attended David Sacks' sold-out fundraiser for him in June, said on X that Trump's detractors should die in a fire," claimed the shooting was a deep state plot orchestrated by Democrats, and called for the deportation of a US green card holder who disagreed with his posts. I hope we send you back," he said in an exchange captured by CoinDesk. You are protected by constitutional rights, but you are not entitled to citizenship. I hope it stays that... Continue reading...

Image: Meta Meta is rolling out a revamped version of its Quest mobile app that links it more closely with its 3D social platform Horizon Worlds. The app, now called Meta Horizon, comes with a new tab that lets you complete quests from your phone and customize your avatar.You can also use the app to explore and join new worlds, as well as connect with friends in Horizon Worlds, which launched on mobile and the web last September. Meta says the update won't take away any features in the existing app, and you can still use it to set up your Quest headsets and browse the library of apps in the Meta Horizon Store.Another small update coming to the Meta Horizon app is the addition of light mode, allowing you to easily swap between light and dark... Continue reading...

Blue Screens of Death in Indira Gandhi International Airport. | Photo by Kabir Jhangiani / NurPhoto via Getty Images Photos of a world seeing blue due to the massive outage affecting Microsoft Windows systems on Friday. Continue reading...

Photo: Getty Images Twitch has reinstated former President Donald Trump's account after indefinitely" suspending him following the January 6th, 2021, attacks on the US Capitol.We reinstated former President Trump's Twitch channel," a Twitch spokesperson, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, says in a statement. We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US president." (Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president Thursday night.)We continue to enforce our Community Guidelines and take necessary enforcement action when we identify violations of our rules," says the spokesperson. Twitch doesn't have a public figure policy,' meaning all... Continue reading...

The Xiaomi Mix Flip features a 4.01-inch cover screen. | Image: Xiaomi Xiaomi has announced two new folding phones for the Chinese market. The upgraded Mix Fold 4, which introduces water resistance for the first time, and the Mix Flip, the company's first flip phone foldable featuring a 4.01-inch cover screen surrounded by a nearly non-existent bezel. Image: Xiaomi The Xiaomi Mix Flip features a 4.01-inch external display and can be used to make calls without being opened. Xiaomi claims the new Mix Flip has the largest external display on a flip-style folding smartphone. At 4.01 inches in size, it's just slightly larger than the four-inch screen on the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 but much bigger than the 3.4-inch external screen on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.The Mix Flip's 120Hz... Continue reading...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images It's only been a couple of weeks since the Supreme Court issued its opinion on a pair of social media cases this term, but it's already making a splash in arguments over other tech laws being challenged by the industry.Lawyers and judges for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California repeatedly referenced the Supreme Court's opinion in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton during oral arguments in two different cases on Wednesday. The cases before the Ninth Circuit, NetChoice v. Bonta and X v. Bonta, concern two different California laws regarding kids online safety and tech company disclosures (Rob Bonta is California's attorney general, charged with enforcing the laws).The arguments gave an early look into how the SCOTUS... Continue reading...

Amazon Prime Day may be over, but some of the better deals - including those on Beats Fit Pro - are still kicking. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I don't know about you, but I can't get on board with the AirPods Pro's tailpipe design. If I'd participated in The Verge's summer in / out list, they'd go firmly in the out" column. But the Beats Fit Pro are a great alternative that you can often find on sale for significantly less, especially around events like Prime Day. Right now, for instance, Beats' gym-friendly earbuds are matching their all-time low of $149.95 ($50 off) at Best Buy, Target, and Amazon (for Prime members).What's most appealing to me about the Beats Fit Pro are the fins that help the earbuds stay lodged in your ears - I personally can't get the AirPods Pro to stay put in my canyon-sized canals, even when I'm stationary. Beats' last-gen earbuds are also rated... Continue reading...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge The FBI used an unreleased tool from the Israeli mobile forensics company Cellebrite to unlock the Trump rally shooter's phone - and opened it in less than an hour, according to reports from Bloomberg and The Washington Post.Investigators at the FBI's Pittsburgh field office first tried to open Thomas Matthew Crooks' phone with a Cellebrite tool but weren't able to break into it. The phone was sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, on Sunday, where agents called Cellebrite's federal team, people familiar with the investigation told Bloomberg. Cellebrite sent the FBI an unreleased tool that's still in development, which was able to unlock Crooks' phone in 40 minutes.The Verge has reached out to Cellebrite for comment. The FBI... Continue reading...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Just days after former President Donald Trump vowed to send Mark Zuckerberg to prison for long periods of time," the CEO of Meta is returning the favor - by complimenting Trump.In an interview with Bloomberg that's set to air on Tuesday, Zuckerberg was asked about what's at stake in the upcoming US presidential election. Zuckerberg first spoke about how Meta is focusing less on politics across its platforms by allowing users to tweak their settings to see less political content and recommending less content of that kind to users. Zuckerberg also says he will not personally endorse" either President Joe Biden or Trump - before offering, unprompted, his take on the Trump rally shooting.Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in... Continue reading...

Image: Channel 4 / Talkback Thames Have you turned it off and on again? That familiar refrain from IT departments and The IT Crowd is being echoed by Microsoft today as a recommended way of fixing the faulty CrowdStrike update that has taken down thousands of Windows PCs and servers today.In a support note on Microsoft's Azure outage page, the company says it has heard from customers that rebooting virtual machines and PCs multiple times can help. We have received feedback from customers that several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage," says Microsoft.If rebooting a machine 15 times doesn't do the trick, Microsoft recommends the workaround that many IT... Continue reading...

Image: Adrienn Szabo / Paramount Plus Paramount has canceled its live-action Halo series for Paramount Plus, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. But if you're a fan of the show and want to see it continue, there's a sliver of hope: both publications report that the show's producers are shopping the series around, so perhaps there will be a third season.The Halo show premiered in 2022 and ran for two seasons, with the second debuting earlier this year. Pablo Schreiber starred as Master Chief.We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, along with showrunner and executive producer David Wiener, his fellow executive producers, the entire cast led by Pablo Schreiber as Master... Continue reading...

Photo by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images Look, in the grand scheme of the global outage that's wreaking havoc across airlines, banks, supermarkets, TV stations, and countless businesses, being unable to order a Trenta iced coffee from Starbucks with my smartphone is a minor inconvenience. But you can add the company's mobile ordering system to the list of casualties from this CrowdStrike BSOD situation.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge On Friday morning, some of the biggest airlines, TV broadcasters, banks, and other essential services came to a standstill as a massive outage rippled across the globe. The outage, which has brought the Blue Screen of Death upon legions of Windows machines across the globe, is linked to just one software company: CrowdStrike.CrowdStrike plays an important role in helping companies find and prevent security breaches, billing itself as having the fastest mean time" to detect threats. Since its launch in 2011, the Texas-based company has helped investigate major cyberattacks, such as the Sony Pictures hack in 2014, as well as the Russian cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee in 2015 and 2016. As of Thursday evening,... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge A Trump2024" banner labeled Promoted by Team Trump" sat atop the What's Happening summary on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday.While the #Trump2024 hashtag temporarily showed the American flag, and clicking it caused an animated hashfetti" effect with flags raining down, it was the icon attached to the number one trending #MAGA topic that caught our eyes. Image: X.com The Trump hashmoji" attached to #MAGA. It temporarily featured a low-res version of a now-famous image showing Trump with his fist raised while being lifted to his feet by Secret Service agents following an assassination attempt during his campaign... Continue reading...

Photo by Anthony Kwan / Getty Images IT admins around the world are scrambling to fix a major issue with Windows computers today after a faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike knocked thousands of PCs and servers offline with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error. While CrowdStrike has fixed the update that originally caused the problems, many systems are still offline, with banks, airlines, supermarkets, and TV broadcasters struggling to cope without their machines.The fix, for many, won't be easy. IT admins are still trying to use an initial workaround provided by CrowdStrike, which involves booting Windows systems into Safe Mode and deleting a system file:

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge In 2024, it's always gadget season. But in these hot mid-July weeks, after splashy announcements from Samsung and Motorola and before we see what's coming from Google and Apple, it's officially Weird Gadget Season.On this episode of The Vergecast, we dive into the many weird gadgets that surfaced this week: an iPod-y Apple Watch accessory, an AI-powered Canon camera, the extremely tall Essential phone that never made it to market, and more. We talk about them all, always asking the important question: is this anything?But before we get to the weird gadgets, we go through some of the big news of the week. After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the current state of social media content moderation has revealed itself... and... Continue reading...

Photo by Jack Taylor / Getty Images Thousands of flights were temporarily grounded Friday after a major global IT outage caused airline computers to become inoperable. Some flights were resuming Friday morning, but airlines were warning customers of delays and disruptions throughout the day.The outage apparently stemmed from a software update issued by major US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which is widely used by businesses for managing security on Windows PCs - including by most major airlines.Long lines were being reported at dozens of airports, including Hong Kong, Berlin, Amsterdam, Denver, and Manchester, according to The New York Times. Departure areas were filling up with distressed travelers as check-out computers were offline.A TikTok from Atlanta's... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Samsung has temporarily stopped shipping its new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to retailers following complaints about quality control. Early customers who received the wireless earbuds ahead of their wider July 24th release reported that the ear tips were fragile and prone to breaking when removed.The pause was confirmed in a statement to Android Authority, in which Samsung said it had temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to distribution channels" to conduct quality control assessments before the product is delivered to customers. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," the company said, directing customers who had already received the earbuds to contact Samsung support or visit their nearest... Continue reading...

Google is cracking down on functionally useless Android apps. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is raising its minimum quality requirements for Android apps, and will soon remove those that don't meet expectations from the Play Store. According to the company's latest spam policy update, apps that demonstrate limited functionality and content" - such as text only apps, single wallpaper apps, or those that are literally designed to do nothing at all - will no longer be permitted on the Play Store effective August 31st.These join existing restrictions that barred broken apps that are not responsive, don't install, crash, or otherwise function abnormally. Google says it's added the additional requirements to ensure apps can meet the uplifted standards for the Play catalog and engage users through quality functionality."G... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge If you ever used Google's URL shortening service goo.gl before it was shut down in 2019, be warned - those links will stop working on August 25th, 2025. Google announced in a blog post that the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener," and that any links in the https://goo.gl/* format will respond with a 404 error next year.Ahead of the shutdown, goo.gl links will start showing an interstitial page on August 23rd, 2024, notifying users that this link will no longer work in the near future." This message will initially appear for a percentage of existing links'' which will increase as the deadline draws closer. Google is encouraging developers to update impacted links as soon as possible, however, as this... Continue reading...

Image: Microsoft Thousands of Windows machines are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets, and many more businesses worldwide. A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can't start properly. CrowdStrike is widely used by many businesses worldwide for managing the security of Windows PCs and servers.Australian banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters first raised the alarm as thousands of machines started to go offline. The issues spread fast as businesses based in Europe started their work day. UK broadcaster Sky News was unable to broadcast its morning news bulletins... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has blasted Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass price increases in a filing to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Microsoft revealed last week that it's increasing PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate prices, and planning to launch a new Game Pass Standard tier soon without day one access to first-party Xbox games.The FTC calls this new Game Pass Standard tier a degraded product," because new Game Pass users won't be able to sign up to the $10.99 Game Pass for Console, which includes day one game access. Instead, Xbox Game Pass Standard will be priced at $14.99 and won't include day one games, but will include online multiplayer.Microsoft's price increases and product degradation - combined... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge A widespread Xbox Live outage lasting several hours has now been resolved. The issue prevented players from signing into their accounts and downloading or playing online games. Users should once again be able to sign in, matchmake and complete purchases," Xbox Support said on X at 11.24PM ET. Thank you for sticking with us!"Xbox had earlier confirmed there was a major" Xbox Live outage on its status page as of 6:57PM ET, warning players they may experience issues with signing into their user profiles, or being disconnected. At 8:20PM ET, Xbox also said the outage was affecting Xbox Store and subscriptions. You may not be able to buy games to own right now," according to a status message.For players who could sign into their... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Google has bought itself the title of official AI sponsor for Team USA," and when the 2024 Olympics broadcast starts on July 26th, you will be reminded of that frequently. NBCUniversal's partnership with Google will put many of the company's AI-powered features front and center during the event.The broadcast will include Google Maps' 3D views of venues like the Versailles, Stade Roland Garros, and the Aquatics Centre, as well as tidbits about what events will occur at each location. The imagery pulls from the Immersive Views added to Maps over the last few years that represent certain landmarks and areas of interest with photorealistic models. Image: Google Image: Google As part of the... Continue reading...

Photo by Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images The Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers.The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock customers' phones within 60 days of activation. The proposal is at an early stage - the notice of proposed rulemaking begins a public comment period before a lengthy process of drafting and revising the rule - but the FCC hopes it will boost consumer choice and competition among mobile service providers.The commissioners are seeking comment on whether the proposed rule should apply to existing or future service contracts and how it could impact smaller... Continue reading...

Image: Google Just hours after revealing the Pixel 9 Pro, Google is showing off the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with a brief, Gemini-linked teaser video. As is standard for Pixel phones, the devices have been leaked all over the internet already, but at least now we can end speculation about the look or name of Google's next foldable Android phone.Google's teaser video clearly shows double-stacked lenses for the rear camera module as well as the outside screen and hinge. Image: Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold For confirmation of other specs and details about upgrades from the first Fold, we may have to wait for Google's hardware event on August 13th. There, we'll see this phone, the 9 Pro, the Pixel Watch 3, and whatever else is left.Y... Continue reading...

Photo: Disney / Lucasfilm Season 1 of The Acolyte was a master class in deepening Star Wars' lore rather than just playing into its nostalgic past. Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Figma recently pulled its Make Designs" generative AI tool after a user discovered that asking it to design a weather app would spit out something suspiciously similar to Apple's weather app - a result that could, among other things, land a user in legal trouble. This also suggested that Figma may have trained the feature on Apple's designs, and while CEO Dylan Field was quick to say that the company didn't train the tool on Figma content or app designs, the company has now released a full statement in a company blog post.The statement says that Figma carefully reviewed" Make Designs' underlying design systems during development and as part of a private beta. But in the week leading up to Config, new components and example screens... Continue reading...

Initially available in silver, the Fiio DM13 will eventually be released in four additional colors. | Image: Fiio It's time to dig out those CD binders you refused to part with. Fiio, a Chinese audio gear maker, is releasing a $179 portable CD player in September that brings with it modern upgrades the Sony Discman never had - including support for the wireless headphones that didn't exist in the Discman's heyday.Following vinyl's resurgence in popularity, demand for audio cassettes and compact discs has increased in recent years. At CES 2024, Fiio debuted the CP13, an upgraded portable cassette player inspired by the iconic Sony Walkman. Half a year later, the Fiio DM13 gives portable CD players a similarly modern facelift. Image: Fiio The portable CD player will have a rechargeable battery good for eight hours of playback.... Continue reading...

The new Boost Mobile logo has the Infinite part included. | Image: Boost Mobile Boost Mobile, the historically MVNO wireless carrier acquired by Disk Network (which rejoined EchoStar), has relaunched as an umbrella company that now includes Boost Infinite and combines all its pre- and post-paid services. Along with the rebranding, Boost Mobile is offering new deals, including an affordable $25 per month option with 5G speeds.The key part of the $25 per month deal is that customers can get that price (with automatic payments) with only a single line, while other carriers usually require you to sign up for multiple lines to get to a lower price per line. For instance, Verizon's Total Wireless recently launched a $30 per line per month offer, but you must have four lines to get the low price. Image:... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge FBI officials told Congress on Wednesday that the 20-year-old who shot at former President Donald Trump may have posted a warning on Steam before the attack - but CNN is now reporting that investigators think the account is fake.

Image: Google Google has revealed the Pixel 9 Pro following a series of leaks that revealed the phone in great detail, including hands-on videos and comparisons to other recent devices. The company plans to show off more about the Pixel 9 lineup as well as its other upcoming devices, with an event at Google HQ in California on August 13th.In a video, the company showed a brief look at the Pixel 9 Pro and teased that AI and Gemini will be a big part of the device. You can also already sign up for information about the Pixel 9 Pro from Google's online store, which has another image of the phone. Image: Google Recent regulatory filings and other leaks indicate that Google is planning to launch four phones soon: the Pixel 9, the... Continue reading...

Image: Instagram Instagram Notes - a temporary away status-like feature - is expanding, the company announced today.Users will now be able to leave Notes on Reels and grid posts, where their comments will float on top of the content in little bubbles. Like Notes, these comments are temporary - they'll disappear after three days unless you delete them earlier. The new temporary comments are also semiprivate, and users can tailor who's able to see their comment: either your curated list of close friends or followers you follow back. Based on screenshots, it also appears as though users can tag each other in Notes on Reels and posts. They're basically hidden comments for a smaller audience.When users encounter Reels and posts with Notes from friends,... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge OpenAI is releasing a lighter, cheaper model for developers to tinker with called GPT-4o Mini. It costs significantly less than full-sized models and is said to be more capable than GPT-3.5.Building apps using OpenAI's models can rack up a huge bill. Developers without the means to afford to tinker with it can get priced out of it entirely and may opt for cheaper models like Google's Gemini 1.5 Flash or Anthropic's Claude 3 Haiku. Now, OpenAI is entering the light model game.I think GPT-4o Mini really gets at the OpenAI mission of making AI more broadly accessible to people. If we want AI to benefit every corner of the world, every industry, every application, we have to make AI much more affordable," Olivier Godement, who leads the... Continue reading...

The 65-inch version of the CanvasTV is now available, while a 55-inch version will arrive later this summer. | Image: Hisense Hisense's CanvasTV, a matte screen television designed to blend into your home decor as a piece of artwork when you're not watching TV, is now available in a 65-inch model for $1,299.99. A smaller 55-inch version, expected to sell for $999, is still en route for later this summer.First announced in May, the CanvasTV wraps a 4K, 144Hz QLED anti-glare screen in a wooden teak frame to give it the appearance of framed artwork. If that doesn't match the decor of a room, walnut and all-white frames are also available but sold separately. An Art Mode" cycles through a preloaded collection of paintings in Renaissance, modern, and abstract styles, but users can display their own art and photographs. When no one's around to look, a motion sensor... Continue reading...

Image: 1047 Games Splitgate isn't dead yet. On Thursday, developer 1047 Games revealed a cinematic trailer for Splitgate 2, a revamped version of the free-to-play multiplayer shooter, which uses the same portal mechanic that made the game so fun the first time around.When Splitgate 2 launches in 2025, it will come with some notable upgrades. The developers say they've rebuilt everything from the ground up" in Unreal Engine 5 and also added a new faction-based system. There will be familiar elements, but on the whole, Splitgate 2 should look and feel completely fresh from the original," 1047 Games says.Commonly referred to as Halo with portals," Splitgate became a breakout hit when it launched in 2021, racking up 10 million downloads in less than 30... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This week on Decoder, I talked to author Matthew Ball, who was last on the show in 2022 to discuss his book The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything." It's 2024, and it's safe to say that has not happened yet. But Matt's still on the case - in fact, he just performed an almost complete update of the book, now with the much more sober title, Building the Spatial Internet." It's out next week on Tuesday, July 23rd.Matt and I talked a lot about where the previous metaverse hype cycle landed us and what there is to learn from these boom and bust waves in technology. We also talked about the Apple Vision Pro as a marker or symbol of where the metaverse is now and where it has to go. If you read or watched my review when it... Continue reading...

Nintendo now offers its own Joy-Con charger. | Image: Nintendo Europe Nintendo has announced its own standalone charger for the Switch's Joy-Con controllers arriving on October 17th. It's an accessory that many Switch gamers would have welcomed seven years ago when the handheld launched, and while third parties have long offered alternatives, Nintendo's arrives with some extra flexibility.Unlike most wireless controllers that can be charged with a USB-C cable, the Nintendo Joy-Con, as well as the company's retro wireless NES and Famicom gamepads, can only charge when attached to the Switch. A separate charger makes it easier to keep more than two Joy-Con controllers powered up, so it's an odd move for the company to release an accessory like this as the original Switch's lifecycle winds down and its... Continue reading...

Image: Voicemod Popular voice changing software Voicemod is finally going to work with game consoles like the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch. While Voicemod has been available as an app on Windows PCs for more than five years, platform limitations have forced Voicemod to create dedicated hardware to bring its popular voice changer and soundboard to game consoles.Voicemod Key is a tiny USB-C dongle that turns your regular gaming headset and mobile phone into a voice changer and soundboard for game consoles, phones, and tablets. The original idea was from the community, we found it on YouTube," explains Voicemod chief operating officer Jochen Doppelhammer in an interview with The Verge.Voicemod can't build an app for Xbox or PlayStation, so... Continue reading...